Martin Lewis has warned holidaymakers to avoid making a “big mistake” when organising their trip. The finance expert has urged people to make sure they have travel insurance in place “as soon as they book” their holiday to avoid being financially hit if they have to cancel.
Speaking on The Martin Lewis Podcast, he explained that many travellers fail to purchase holiday cover early enough, which can leave them out of pocket if they’re no longer able to travel due to unforeseen circumstances. Someone had written into the show asking for advice regarding a holiday they had booked in the summer.
Since making the booking, the traveller had received a cancer diagnosis and could no longer go as they were receiving chemotherapy. Both the operator and holiday firm refused to cancel the trip as the passenger hadn’t booked the flexible option.
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Responding to the query, Martin pointed out that it’s not the holiday provider’s responsibility to refund the trip if it’s not ‘faulty’. He said that holidaymakers often delay buying travel insurance, meaning they are not covered should any issues arise before they travel.
Martin said: “They ask me what to do and I say that’s what your travel insurance is there for and I can’t tell you how many times they say ‘well I haven’t got travel insurance yet I was going to get it before I go’.
“I’m left impotent without being able to give them any solution other than go and speak to the holiday company again and throw yourselves at their mercy - will they give you vouchers, will they give you something else.”
He added: “That is why you get travel insurance ASAB - as soon as you book, because of those unforeseen events that may stop you going away before you go on holiday.”
Giving an example, Martin said that someone booking a holiday now for August 1-10 would need to buy travel insurance as soon as possible to cover them for those dates. As they would start paying for the policy now it would protect them should anything happen before they go away.
He added that annual travel insurance would also cover you, even if it ran out before August as it would protect you against anything occurring before the expiry date. Martin explained that in this case the traveller would need to purchase another annual policy, or a single trip insurance option, once the original one had expired. He added that annual travel insurance is cheaper for those who go away two or more times.
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